GusF Disney's first completely live action film, I can't say that I was impressed at all. Bobby Driscoll sticks out like a sore thumb as the only American in the cast but that wouldn't be a problem if he gave a good performance, which he most certainly doesn't. Frankly, I don't think that he could act to save his life. He is one of two things that really drag the film down, the other being the deathly slow pacing. It sticks to the general storyline of the novel by my fellow University of Edinburgh alumnus Robert Louis Stevenson but leaves out many of the details. Yet, bizarrely, it still feels considerably longer than its 95 minute runtime. It's plodding and dull. Neither the script nor the direction are very good. There is little of the great atmosphere of adventure that defines the novel.On the bright side, Robert Newton gives a great over the top performance as Long John Silver, which is the best part of the film. It also features a strong supporting cast of British character actors such as Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald, Denis O'Dea, Ralph Truman, John Laurie, Francis de Wolff, Finlay Currie, Geoffrey Keen, Sam Kydd and Patrick Troughton. The film also looks good. Overall, however, I much preferred Disney's 1960 version of Stevenson's later and, for my money, better novel "Kidnapped" as well as "Muppet Treasure Island", which is considerably more fun.

EdwardCarter A deadly boring, badly acted movie that has not stood the test of time at all - although it probably wasn't that good when it was made over sixty years ago. Robert Newton overacts as Long John Silver and Bobby Driscoll was badly miscast as Jim Hawkins. His American accent was totally out of place, an English boy should have been cast. Most of the movie takes place in the studio even when they're supposed to be at sea. The worst part of all was a completely unfunny and embarrassing Ben Gunn - thankfully, he wasn't in the film for very long.The 1972 version with Orson Welles is far better, despite the dubbing of the international cast.

Umar Mansoor Bajwa Treasure Island directed by Haskin is indeed commendable even after a lapse of fifty years. It is the first live action film by Disney Productions. The violence is a bit more for Walt Disney level.Robert Newton steals the show in the role of Long John Silver. He has injected the exact amount of guile, treachery, crooked chivalry and maneuvering in the robust character of versatile pirate named Long John Silver. The originality exuding from the acting of Newton far outweighs that of film giants like Orsen Welles in the film version of 1972 or by Charlton Heston in TV adaptation of 1990.The special effects and computer graphics generated in the fiction movies of this ultra advanced age have failed to come up to the austere and vivid standards of this Disney Production half a century ago. Honestly speaking, in its genre, this flick has more entertaining charm and reality than in the Pirates of the Caribbean (2006). Robert Newton as the lame, rugged and craggy natured pirate (Silver) outperforms Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow (modern day pirate) of The Dead Man's Chest.I would go, even that far to say that Jim Hawkins played by Bobby Discroll consummates better as the young protagonist in comparison with Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter, although Discroll seems younger in 1950 than Radcliffe in J.K. Rowlings children thriller.

bkoganbing One of Walt Disney's best live action features is this first of several he did over in the United Kingdom in the Fifties. The Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island has been done several times over with even the Muppets going to seek those Dubloons, but never better than by Disney.When you do Treasure Island you had better cast two players with good chemistry for Long John Silver and young Jim Hawkins. If you haven't got that, the whole story falls apart. Fortunately Walt Disney managed to do that with Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll.If you believe David Niven's raconteuring memoirs the biggest alcoholic that ever trod the boards or played on a soundstage was Robert Newton. There never has been a guy quite like him who if the occasion called for it could ham it up like no other. Of course Newton could be deadly serious in a part. But Long John Silver is not a part for a milquetoast. The roll of his eyes, the expressive body language, the pirate lingo that is so vivid in Stevenson's writings it set a pirate standard right up to Captain Jack Sparrow, Newton has it all down. Because of him, Treasure Island is not just a kid's tale, grownups I assure you will be enthralled with his portrayal.Bobby Driscoll is so earnest and brave as Jim Hawkins that you forget that he's American and doesn't have a trace of English accent nor even attempts one. Maybe some young English actor like John Howard Davies should have been Jim, but it matters no more than Jackie Cooper in the 1934 MGM Treasure Island. And in that one you had another eye rolling scene stealer, Wallace Beery as Long John Silver.Basil Sydney, Denis O'Dea, Walter Fitzgerald are Jim's fortune hunting adult partners, Captain Smollett, Dr. Livesey, and Squire Trelawney respectively. Only Livesey seems to have the same intelligence that young Jim has. Finlay Currie makes a fiercesome Captain Billy Bones whose map the rest are following.Ironic that both leads would fall victim to the vices, Newton dying from the ill effects of a lifetime of drinking and young Driscoll dead of a heroin overdose, his body unidentified for a year. Still both left quite a legacy and nothing better than a classic telling of the tale of Treasure Island.